Next Generation: Spirit Chronicles
by Saoirse-Inti
Summary: Fifteen years after the Fourth Great Ninja War ended, the world enjoys a time of peace and harmony. However, not all is as it seems... When young Hatake Enoki accidentally discovers a dangerous conspiracy, a race against time to save the world from another war begins... Contains manga spoilers. Next generation, so OC heavy!
1. Beginnings

**Chapter 1. Beginnings**

The day began in a haze of bright light and warmth. Bleary, brown eyes blinked several times from in between warm blankets and pillows, and the boy they belonged to groaned. Morning. Why did mornings have to exist? The boy peered out of his warm cocoon. 8.30 AM. He sighed. At least he wasn't late. Yet. He stuck his nose out and sniffed. Downstairs, breakfast was ready.

He reluctantly burrowed his way out of the blankets and pillows, and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. The wooden floor felt cold underneath his feet. Still half asleep, he crossed over to the closet and pulled out a shirt. His favourite shirt, bright red and with that familiar triangle pattern over the sleeves. He looked at it without comprehension for a moment, but then his body took over from his sleepy mind and he began to dress.

On the other side of the room, the second bed was still occupied. Tufts of deep purple hair stuck out from underneath the covers. The boy scowled and made his way over to the bed, before pulling the blanket off its occupant, who wailed in protest. "Wake up, Kiyo, we're supposed to meet in an hour," the first boy murmured. The second one muttered something that would undoubtedly have been insulting, had it not been muffled by layers of blankets.

A call came from downstairs. Tenmei, their sister. "Enoki! Kiyoshi! Get up, you lazy lumps!"

The boy, Enoki, rolled his dark eyes and raked a hand through his messy hair, then made his way downstairs.

He ran into the living room, where he almost ran straight into his mother. She evaded him with all the ease of a former ANBU and smiled. "Good morning, Enoki. Are you ready for today?" Enoki smiled at her. "I think so." She narrowed her eyes and reached up to straighten out his hair, though with little effect. It had always been rather springy and impossible to handle. "The family curse!" His father would always say, accompanied by a finger pointed at his own perpetual bedhead. Enoki scowled and tried to duck underneath his mother's hand. She sighed. "I suppose that was a lost cause from the start, wasn't it?" Enoki smiled slyly. "It always is,"

She gave him an amused look. "I'll go drag your brother out of bed, shall I?" With a swish of her violet hair, she left the room. Enoki went into the kitchen. His dad was sitting at the dining table, his hair in an even more deplorable state than Enoki's. Enoki sat down opposite the older man, and filled a bowl with rice.

"So, are you ready for this?" The infamous Copy Ninja asked. Enoki took a bite and nodded. "Pweddy shore," He mumbled through his food. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Enoki shrugged. "Liddle bid nerbous I guess,"

Kakashi crossed his arms. Enoki swallowed, then rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. I don't really know what to expect. I don't know what kind of team I will have, and as for the sensei.. Well, all the adults I know are insane, so it can't be good." Another raised eyebrow. "What? You know it's true. Plus everyone's saying there'll be this really complicated test we have to complete first." He took another bite. "And I don't mean like your bell test," he gave his father a pointed look, "but some individual stuff. It's not like it was in your time, you know." Kakashi hummed in reply, face unreadable.

A low moan indicated Kiyo's arrival. Enoki looked up, glad for the interruption before his dad could start ranting about 'the old days'. Kiyoshi was his twin brother, older by roughly five minutes. They didn't look much alike, Enoki thought. Kiyo had inherited their mother's purple hair and their father's dark grey eyes, whereas Enoki was his complete opposite with silver hair and brown eyes. Kiyo was better looking too, if the girls in their class were to be believed, something Enoki had always accepted with a shrug and a sigh.

Kiyo threw himself into the chair at the head of the table, and looked around with barely opened eyes. "Eh," He managed. Kiyo wasn't very good with mornings, either. Their father knew better than to talk to him.

The three of them ate in silence for a while, as they usually did. Then Enoki spoke up. "Where's nee-san, anyway? I thought I heard her voice earlier."

"Mission," Kakashi said. "I believe Konohamaru threatened to leave without her if she would be late,"

Enoki's face fell. "Ugh, I hope my sensei won't be so hard on me."

"Don't count on it!" His mother sing-songed somewhere behind them. "Mom!" Enoki called out. Yuugao smiled back.

"How can everyone be so damn cheerful this early on the day?" Kiyo muttered. "Language!" their mom admonished him. Both boys groaned, then exchanged a look. Time to get going. "Oh, look at the time! We have to go!" Enoki said, looking anywhere but at a clock. Kiyo slurped up his breakfast in a single swallow and nodded. Their parents sighed. "Alright, alright, off you go," Yuugao said as she sat down at the table. "And do your best today, boys,"

The boys gave them a nearly identical grin, then ran upstairs.

"Hey, Kiyo, you know what this means?" Enoki said.

"What is it?"

"I'm not going to be late today!"

Roughly an hour later, Enoki ran into the classroom for the second time that morning. In his enthusiasm to get to class in time for once, he had completely forgotten to bring his brand new forehead protector- a fact that was gleefully pointed out to him by one of their classmates when he had arrived. Not even Kiyo had noticed, despite wearing his own headband.

Iruka sent him a long-suffering look before pointing the boy over to his seat. "Now that everyone has finally joined us, we can get started."

Enoki blushed and sat down in his usual seat, still tying his headband around his neck.

Kiyo smiled apologetically at his brother, but it didn't make Enoki feel much better. Was he cursed to be eternally tardy? At least his father did it on purpose, but with Enoki it just seemed to happen, no matter how hard he tried to be on time. He groaned and laid his forehead down on the table. He was never going to be on time for anything, was he? He'd be late for his own funeral.

Next to him, his classmate Isamu gave him a reassuring smile. "Iruka-sensei isn't really mad, you know," He whispered. "He was smiling and shaking his head when you left again. He's used to it, really." Enoki looked up.

Takahashi Isamu had been a friend of Enoki and Kiyo's for as long as Enoki could remember. He was a cheerful, down-to-earth kind of guy, with short and sleek chestnut hair and hazel eyes. He was the kind of guy Enoki had always secretly hoped would become his teammate. Besides, Enoki didn't have many friends, so the more the better.

Enoki crossed his arms. "That doesn't really make me feel any better, you know." Isamu opened his mouth to reply, but a loud cough interrupted them. Iruka-sensei gave them both a pointed look. The boys shrunk into their seats, and Iruka nodded in approval. Then he began to speak.

"First of all, I would like to congratulate you all on passing the initial genin exam and receiving your headband! Your class did well, and everybody passed. Hokage-sama and I have composed teams that will each consist of three of you. Each team will be led by a qualified jounin" Kiyo and Enoki exchanged an amused look, remembering the many stories of the old team 7, "who will be your sensei until you are promoted to chuunin, should you be that successful. Together you will embark on missions to fund our village and ensure this continent's safety! It is a noble calling and I truly hope you will all flourish." His dark eyes lingered on some of the students' faces, including Enoki's.

Enoki gulped. Awesomely talented family or not, he had never been a particularly gifted student. He'd done well in the theoretical aspects, but the physical ones.. He looked down at his pale hands. There was a reason Kiyo was almost a head taller than him. 'Twin syndrom', his mom had called it when she'd explained. Apparently, before they were born Enoki hadn't had as much access to food and nourishment as Kiyo. He'd been born almost half the size of Kiyo, and with underdeveloped chakra pathways.

He looked up and met Iruka's eyes. He knew what the other man was thinking. What everyone in this class was thinking. That he'd never make it past chuunin, hell, he might not even be able to make it to that point! Enoki clenched his fists.

Tenmei, who was 14, was already called Konoha's rising star by some, and there was no doubt on Enoki's mind that Kiyo would be equally brilliant. Enoki was the one who had to prove himself. He shook his head. This was not the time to start doubting himself. Not right now. First, he had to become a genin.

"… and that concludes the first team. Your sensei will be here to pick you up anytime now." Wait, what? He'd missed the announcement of the first team? Typical! Just perfect! Of course he would go off on some angsty tantrum the moment he actually had to pay attention! Enoki sent a desperate look to Isamu. The other boy smiled awkwardly. "You're not in it," he whispered.

Enoki's head was reacquainted with the desk.

* * *

After the announcement of two more teams, Isamu's name was called up. "Takahashi Isamu, Akimichi Natsume and Kazehana Akira. The three of you will form team 8. Then, team 9. Katou Koeda," Enoki's head perked up and he looked over to the girl in question. She was without a doubt one of his least favourite people in the class. She was reclusive and snappy, and just generally unfriendly, even though she was Yamato-jiji's daughter. There weren't many people left to be teamed up with. If he was teamed up with Koeda… _ Please don't let her become my teammate._ "-Hatake Kiyoshi," Oh no. "And Hatake Enoki."

He could hear Kiyo draw in a sharp breath, and their eyes met. Kiyo tried to smile encouragingly. _At least we'll have each other._

Koeda was seated near the door of the classroom, dark eyes drilling into Enoki's skull. They'd known each other forever, what with their parents being, well, friends, for lack of a better word. Enoki's dad liked to bully hers, though they seemed amicable enough most times. Enoki and Kiyo got along greatly with Koeda's older brother, Tsuyu, who was Tenmei's age. But Koeda herself… She was a pretty girl, Enoki thought, who resembled her mother Shizune far more than she resembled her father. Her black hair was pulled back into a ponytail and a forehead protector stylized like her father's kept the bangs from falling into her eyes.

If only she would smile and be nice every now and then… All he remembered of her as a child was that she'd always been ill and unable to play with them. Maybe that's why…

Koeda's eyes met his and she glared. Enoki quickly swerved back into his original position. Say what you want, but that girl was _scary._ He bet she could kill with that glare if she chose to.

At the front of the class, Iruka-sensei wrapped up the last of the teams. "As I mentioned before, your teacher will be here soon. I expect all of you to treat them with the respect they deserve!" A buzz of excitement ran through the class.

"Who do you think we'll get?" A girl in front of Enoki said to her friend. "Do you think Hokage-sama will ever take a team of students?" Enoki briefly entertained the thought. The Hokage in question, Uzumaki Naruto, happened to be something inbetween wacky uncle and older brother to Enoki, so he knew the man well. He also knew that Naruto as a sensei would mean a completely unorthodox, chaotic apprenticeship. He snickered.

Iruka smiled. "I expect all of you to do well on your test, but remember that if you do not succeed right away, you are more than welcome to spend another year in my class!"

Kiyo leaned over with one hand cupped over his mouth. "I don't think sensei really understands how dreadful that prospect is," he whispered. The other boys chuckled, though not without feeling some dread. What if they were the ones who had to redo another year of the academy? Enoki could not imagine anything worse than that.

There was a sudden knock on the door, and Iruka looked up. "Oh, looks like the first sensei has arrived! Come in, come in!" A beautiful woman of about thirty with long, pale blond hair entered the room. She looked vaguely familiar to Enoki, but he couldn't pinpoint it. One of the clan heads, perhaps?

"Heya, Iruka-sensei!" She said, "My name is Yamanaka Ino, and I'm here to pick up team 8! That should be…" she frowned, which did not seem to deter from her beauty at all, "Natsume-chan, Isamu-kun and Akira-kun!"

Next to Enoki, Isamu sat up ram-rod straight, an excited but nervous smile on his face. Kiyo gave a low whistle. "Lucky you!" He said softly. Isamu stood up shakily, looked over to his equally nervous teammates, and then walked over to his brand new sensei. She grinned. "What a cute team we'll make! Come on, kids. Let's go!"

Enoki and Kiyo watched as Isamu left the classroom. Kiyo sighed. "Ehh, they get such a pretty sensei… You wanna bet we'll get some old crone? Or worse, some weird guy.."

Enoki shrugged. "Honestly, I'd be happy with any sensei who isn't Lee-san. You just know that if he gets his hands on a new team, he'll train them half to death."

Kiyo shuddered as he tried to imagine it. "D'you think he'd make us wear green as well? Like Gai-Jiji tried, once? Green is simply not my colour," he added dramatically.

Enoki smirked. "Yeah, I remember that. Oh hey, at least we won't have Sasuke-nii. He already has a team, after all."

"That should save us from a couple of sharingan-induced threats, at least."

"Exactly!"

"So it can't all be bad,"

Enoki opened his mouth to agree when the door opened again, and a second jounin stepped in.

"Hey! I'm here for team 9!"

Kiyo's face instantly paled and his mouth dropped open as he saw who it was. Enoki didn't dare to turn around.

"We-we forgot one possibility." Kiyo stammered.

"It's Sakura-nee, isn't it?" Enoki managed.

His brother nodded. Their eyes met.

"We're doomed."

* * *

Somewhere far away, in a small, dark inn a large man sunk down at a table. He looked up from beneath heavy brows at the slighter man seated opposite him.

"So, it's almost time?" The large man grunted.

The second man smiled rakishly and looked up from underneath a dark fringe. His eyes almost seemed to glow in the light of the fireplace.

"Very nearly," He said. "All the preparations have been made. Now we only have to wait for the right opportunity."

"What opportunity would this be, exactly?" The large man growled.

"Patience, my friend. You will see. Everyone will see." His smile grew. "I will teach them."

* * *

**AN: So there goes the first chapter! I've been working on this story for quite some time, and while I still have some fleshing out to do the main story line has been developed.**

**The story is loosely tied in with my drabble collection _Dawn._**

**_"_Enoki" is one of the names Kishimoto considered for Kakashi. I can now abuse it for my own characters:D**

**Please excuse any grammar mistakes I may have made. They slip through every now and then.**

**Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**All OCs are mine.**

**You can find links to Enoki and Kiyo's portraits on my profile.**


	2. Team 9

**AN: And we're off! Notes and translations can be found at the bottom of the page. To those who commented on chapter 1: Thank you:D I hope you continue to enjoy this story and its characters.**

Chapter 2. Tests 

"You wanna bet Dad knew about this ages ago?"

The two brothers were leaning against the railing of the small red bridge that was their meeting place. Kiyo was scowling and his eyes didn't leave Sakura, who was quietly talking to Koeda a few feet away from them. "He could've warned us, at least." 

Enoki laughed awkwardly, then cringed. For all her merits, Sakura was very scary sometimes. But.. "Well, surely it won't be that bad? Sakura-nee always took care of us when we were kids.. Besides, you always really liked-" 

Before he could finish his sentence, Kiyo rushed over and clamped a hand over Enoki's mouth. The tips of his ears were red, and his eyes wide. "SHUT UP! You don't- don't talk about that!" He stepped back, straightening his sky blue jacket. "That was a long time ago." 

A wide grin slowly grew on Enoki's face. For his brother's sake, he would stop talking, but that wouldn't stop him from enjoying it. He'd tease him when they got home. And tell Tenmei about it, of course. Ooh, he could already imagine the team-ups! 

Kiyo crossed his arms defensively. "Not like you're one to talk, mr. Kurenai-san-is-so-cool," He retorted. Enoki twitched. "THAT was JUST because of her awesome genjutsu!" 

"Ah, young love~" Sakura chirped behind them, clearly amused. The boys cringed. Koeda only scowled. That seemed to be her default expression. "Though you boys should really be a bit older before you consider those sorts of things!" She winked at Enoki, who went bright red. Kiyo only raised an eyebrow. "Then what about all those stories dad used to tell us about you fawning over Sasuke- " 

WHAM

Sakura's fist made contact with his head, hard. His head painfully jerked forward. Right, Sakura meant tough love. Sakura fumed. "Gonna have to have a word with your father.." She muttered.

Kiyo clutched his head with both hands. "Oww, nee-san!"

"That's Sakura-sensei for you as of today, Kiyoshi-kun. That goes for all of you."

Kiyo pouted. Sakura saw, and took pity on him. She cradled his head in both hands and a gentle buzz resounded through the air as pale green chakra healed whatever damage might have been done.

"There," She said. "Now stop fooling around and follow me to the training grounds. You probably already know about this since all three of you come from shinobi families, but you've only passed the first round of the genin exam. The hardest part is only just beginning!" 

Enoki frowned. Right, back to business. "So what's it gonna be?" Koeda drawled. "Some kind of teamwork exercise?" Kiyo and Enoki looked at her in surprise. That was the first thing she'd actually said today. She noticed their looks and self-consciously turned her head away. 

"So you _can _talk," Kiyo said with a confident smirk. "I was afraid you weren't able to." 

Koeda huffed and angry red splotches appeared in her face. "Of course I can talk. There just wasn't a good reason for it." 

Kiyo stuck out a hand. "Hatake Kiyo, pleasure to meet you," He said theatrically. Koeda scowled. "We've known each other all our lives," She grumbled. 

"Yeah, but have we ever had a conversation this long?" Kiyo returned smugly. 

Enoki looked from one to another. Likewise, Sakura was observing them with a curious little smile. He wondered what she was thinking. She caught his eyes and smiled. "All in all, I'm pretty happy I got you three as my students," She said quietly. "But you will have to prove yourself to me first! No favouritism! I won't accept you just because you're my old sensei's kids!" She turned towards Koeda. "Or Shizune-sempai and Yamato-taichou's daughter, of course."

Koeda and Kiyo broke their mutual glare to look at their new sensei. Kiyo smiled. "No worries sensei, we won't let you down." His handsome face stretched into a confident smile. 

Enoki rubbed the back of his head. He was pretty sure that somewhere down the line, all the confidence meant for both brothers had skipped Enoki and gone straight to Kiyo. 

Kiyo patted the short, dark tanto bound to his hip. Their father had been teaching him for some time now. Enoki had tried as well, but found that he was less suited for it than his brother. Yet another talent he had not inherited. 

"I'll prove I deserve this blade," Kiyo said, his voice full of promise. Koeda scowled. She'd lifted her right arm to hip height, and looked at it. Enoki frowned when he saw a myriad of small, pockmark-like scars in the crook of her elbow. What were those? Koeda dropped her arm and looked at him intently. He quickly looked away. What was it with her and glaring?

Sakura cleared her throat. "Oi! We are going to the training fields. Right now!" She glared at all three of them and they flinched in response.

A few moments later, Sakura was marching to the training fields. Her brand new students followed her dutifully, each wondering what kind of doom was waiting for them.

They arrived at a lovely, grass covered clearing with three wooden stumps near the forest. Sakura smiled, as if caught up in memory, and walked over to the stumps. She sat down on the middle one and crossed her legs.

"So, time to begin. Since the three of you are already somewhat familiar with tests like these through your parents, I've decided we're going to do it a little bit differently."  
Her voice was commanding, not like the tone of voice she used to get Enoki and his siblings to do chores, but… harsher, somehow. Her soldier voice, Enoki thought.

"To answer your question, Koeda, this will not just be a teamwork exercise. Obviously we will have to test your team cohesion and potential, but for now we will focus on something else first." Sakura held up a single finger. "The three of you are going to get to know each other a bit better!"

When she was met with three blank faces, Sakura sighed. "I suppose I should explain that, huh? Well, it's like- no."Her expression changed. "I won't explain." She smiled mysteriously. "You will find out soon enough." She suddenly looked over their shoulders. "Oh, Naruto, I didn't realize you'd come over!"

Her students spun around. "Naruto-nii?" Enoki said, but once they'd all turned around there was no one behind them.

"Why would she say-" Koeda began, but then the world around them suddenly went dark.

Enoki's vision slowly returned, and as it did he began to realize he was no longer on the training field.

He was at home, and the sun was already going under. His sister was sitting on the porch. Her silver hair seemed almost gold in the sun's glow. Her chin was resting on her hand.

Next to Enoki, Kiyo was blinking furiously. Koeda shook her head as if she was trying to clear it.

Enoki moved toward her. "Hey! How come we're here all of a sudden? Does Sakura-ne, err, sensei know any teleportation techniques?"

Kiyo shrugged. "Not that I know of.."

Tenmei didn't look up. A worried frown marred her features.

"Tenmei!" Their father's voice came from inside the house, and a moment he later the man himself stepped out. He wasn't wearing his head band or jounin vest, so he'd probably been at home for a while.

Tenmei looked up and scooted over to make place for him to sit. He did, and briefly ruffled her hair with one hand. She looked amused but tried to get away from his touch anyway.

Enoki walked forward . "Hey, guys, do you know.." He went over to his father, but Kakashi's eye seemed to go straight through him. Neither of them responded to his words.

So.. they couldn't hear or see him. What was this? Was it… Oh! It suddenly clicked in his mind. Genjutsu! Sakura-sensei had trapped them in a genjutsu!

"Genjutsu," Koeda said. Her dark eyes were serious. "I remember mom saying Sakura-sensei was practicing genjutsu. That's what this has to be."

Kiyo blinked. "Yeah, that'd explain how we suddenly got here. 'Sides, no way Tenmei would let a chance to laugh at us for getting tricked pass by…"

Enoki frowned. "But why? It doesn't make sense-"

Suddenly Tenmei spoke up. "I'm worried about Enoki. It's clear that he's having trouble keeping up with his teammates."

Enoki froze.

Kakashi nodded wearily. "It does seem that way. I.. was afraid it would happen."

Tenmei looked up at him. "It's his chakra, right?" She smiled bitterly. "Even if he had all the talent in the world he still wouldn't make it."

There was a sudden lump in Enoki's throat, and a ball of lead in his stomach. Wha-what were they saying?

"He's.. a failure, isn't he, dad?"

"As a ninja… yes, I'm afraid so."

No. No.

"What's going on?" Kiyo asked quietly. "Why are they saying those things? This is genjutsu, right? So it's an illusion?"

"There's no way either of them would say something like that!" Kiyo's voice rose.

Enoki found he couldn't speak at all.

Kakashi looked straight at Enoki, but his gaze still went straight through the boy. "I guess sometimes talent skips a generation. And he was just born unlucky." The Copy Ninja shook his head. "There's nothing we can do about it…"

Enoki dropped his head, silver hair drooping. It was as he'd thought… He'd never amount to anything!

Koeda looked at him, a hint of understanding and pity in her eyes. "So that's what it is…" She said quietly, more to herself than to either of her teammates.

"No! Don't fall for it, Enoki!" Kiyo shouted. "There's no way that's true!" His head swivelled as he looked over to his illusionary father and sister. "They're not real, they're not-"

Kiyo's voice seemed to fade away and everything slowly went dark again, until there was only pitch black around them.

Then, ever so slowly, the world reappeared.

When it reappeared, Enoki's nose was assaulted by the smell of antiseptics. _Hospital_, his nose screamed at him. The white walls and floors around them confirmed it. There was only one bed in the room, and it was occupied.

Next to him, Koeda's breath hitched. She was pale and her skin looked clammy. Enoki frowned, but before he could ask if she was okay, he noticed Kiyo wasn't standing next to them. But then.. He turned back to the bed, and saw that its occupant was now sitting up.

It was Kiyo. Horror filled Enoki when he saw the bandages wrapped around his brother's eyes. _No. _"Kiyo!"

Kiyo's breath was shallow and rapid, as if he was on the verge of panicking. "If I'm blind," He said, voice shaky, "How would I… how could I ever do _anything_.. anything I want to achieve?"

Enoki desparately tried to come up with a fitting answer, but found that he couldn't. Kiyo had spent half his childhood with his nose stuck in books, and the other half had been spent writing stories about heroic shinobi and valiant kunoichi ready to save the day. He wanted to be a writer. How could you write without sight?

Behind them, the doors suddenly swung open and several medical ninja's stepped in. One of them Enoki recognized as Tsuyu, Koeda's older brother. He was a fairly bland looking boy with brown hair and dark eyes. Enoki vaguely remembered Tsuyu was training to be a medic. It was he who spoke up.

"Koeda, we need you to come with us. We need to test your blood and chakra. Your safety depends on it!"

Koeda was white as a sheet, and shakily stepped back. She was shaking her head from side to side, and her eyes were wide. Enoki had never seen her, or anyone, like that. She was scared beyond belief and backing away from her own brother.

Enoki looked from his own brother to Koeda's pale and frightened face. Then he remembered what they had previously seen and his own fear at being told he wasn't good enough. That was his greatest fear. "It's everything we fear," He murmured. "Our greatest fears, put on display before us.." His eyes widened with realization. "That's what she's doing!" His voice rose and he grabbed Koeda by the arm. He pulled her towards him, forcing the girl to look him in the eye. "Don't you see? This is fake! There's no way your brother would force you through something you really don't want! And Kiyo! He strode over to the bed, dragging Koeda along. "Kiyo, if you went blind I would be your eyes for you. You want to write, right? Then you'd only have to dictate it to me and I would write it down for you! Don't you see? There is nothing for you to fear!"

Enoki was almost grinning now. "So it is a teamwork exercise! We need to help each other rise above our fears!"

Koeda's face slowly began to relax. "What-what do you mean? " She shook her head as she tried to make sense of Enoki's words. "she showed us our greatest fears with the intention to make us work together? So that we'd overcome our fears together?" She said as she began to catch on.

"Yes!" Enoki replied. He was now grinning. They could do this! He grabbed hold of Kiyo's face and began to unwind the bandages. Kiyo's fingers began to help him, slowly at first but then they picked up in speed.

"Together, we can… do this.." Kiyo said, his voice hoarse but slowly regaining its usual confidence.

"We can beat our fears," Koeda continued, a growing respect for her teammates in her eyes. "Together, we can.."

Her brother's fingers wrapped around her arm and began to pull her towards the room's only exit. "No!" She screamed. She twisted her body and unceremoniously punched her brother in the nose.

Enoki stopped to gape at her. "Nice one," he finally said.

"I… can't see, but.." Kiyo's hands gingerly moved through the air until they found Enoki's arm. He wrapped his left hand around Enoki's elbow. "You can lead me."

Kiyo swung his legs off the bed. "And you.. no matter if you become a powerful ninja.. you've already made mom, dad and Tenmei proud. I know, because you've made me proud!"

"You sure are sappy, aren't you?" Koeda deadpanned. Kiyo smiled disarmingly. "But it came from the heart," he said brightly.

"Do you… really think so?" Enoki asked carefully. Kiyo smiled and opened his mouth to reply. "Ofcou- "

Before Kiyo could finish his sentence, their surroundings turned dark again. This time, when it cleared up, they were once again on the training fields. Sakura was practically beaming.

"You saw through my test, huh?" she said. "You helped each other through one of the most difficult situations you could face; a situation in which you would panic and make the wrong decisions if you were alone. All three of you did well! You saw through the deception and helped to shake each other out of it." She smiled. "Knowing each other's insecurities and fears and how to compensate for them is the first step to becoming a powerful team."

She crossed her arms. "But we're not quite there yet." Her eyes grew dark and the smile disappeared.

As if on cue, Kiyo cried out and clawed at his face. "My eyes! I can't see! Enoki!" Enoki's breath hitched and he turned around to run towards his brother. The moment he lifted his right leg, a terrible heaviness took hold of his limbs and he unceremoniously fell to the ground. He groaned when he hit the ground and tried to get up, but found he couldn't move an inch.

Kiyo was close to panicking. "Enoki? What's going on? What was that sound?" He looked around furiously, arms stuck out in front of him like an insect sticking out its antennae.

Koeda looked from Enoki to Kiyo. Her eyes were wide, but her voice was calm when she spoke. "Boys, we have to calm down. Something is off here." She looked around for a clue, only to see that Sakura was staring straight at her. Their sensei held a huge needle in her right hand.

Sakura cocked her head. "It's just a check-up, Koeda. It will only hurt a little." Koeda backed away and stumbled over Enoki's prone body. She fell backward and landed painfully on her back.

Enoki's mind was racing. Were they still in the genjutsu? That had to be true. People didn't just go blind, bodies didn't spontaneously stop working and there's _no way_ Sakura would make false promises about how much a needle sting would hurt. Sakura didn't pussyfoot around anything, let alone something like that.

So what could they do about it? He tried to remember if his dad or Iruka-sensei had ever told them how to dispel a genjutsu, but his mind came up blank. Then they'd have to make Sakura-sensei release it, instead. But how? Enoki couldn't move, Koeda was a target and Kiyo couldn't see. How would they…

"Enoki!" Kiyo had finally reached them. "You said you'd be my eyes. Then come be my eyes!"

Of course! Good old Kiyo! Again, it was all about teamwork.

"Koeda, Kiyo, one of you will have to carry me. Kiyo, I can see for you but then you will have to do the fighting!"

Kiyo nodded, eyes staring straight through Enoki as he carefully knelt down. His fingers grasped through the air and then finally found Enoki's arm. He grabbed hold of Enoki and then lifted him up off the ground, looping Enoki's left arm around his shoulders.

"Alright, I've got you," Kiyo said. "So, any other clever plans to get us out of this one?" He smiled weakly.

"First of all, Sakura-sensei is straight ahead. I will tell you if she attacks. Now, Koeda, are you-"

Koeda slowly got up, shaking all over her body. She willed herself forward and stood next to Enoki. "I'm ready whenever you are," She lifted her right arm up and grabbed it by the elbow with her left hand. As Enoki watched, her skin slowly began to crack and change colour. Her fingers grew in length and small branches sprouted from her elbow. Enoki gasped. Koeda's lower arm now resembled a tree branch, the bark the colour of an oak.

"Mokuton!" Enoki exclaimed. "That's amazing! I didn't know you inherited it!"

Koeda looked away. "Well don't get too excited. It's more trouble than its worth."

"Are you kidding me?" Enoki said as his irrational fondness of rare jutsu reared its head. "It's amazing! You combine the water element and the earth element to create trees! It's the first Hokage's jutsu! It's-"

"Oi, you don't have to go all walking-encyclopedia on me. I already know how it works, thanks."

Enoki's mouth clapped shut. "Right. Sorry, shutting up now." Kiyo snorted in amusement.

Sakura's mouth twisted in a lopsided smile. "Did no one teach you to never look away from your opponent?"

Then she _moved_. One moment she was standing about ten feet away, the next she was right in front of them, her fist ready to strike.

"JUMP!" Enoki shouted, and Kiyo pulled both of them out of Sakura's reach. Similarly Koeda jumped away to avoid the blow, so Sakura's fist hit the ground rather than them. The earth cracked underneath her. If Enoki hadn't seen it before he would have been too stunned to do anything else.

"Kiyo, get ready to dodge again!" Enoki wanted to curse his useless body. This would be an _excellent _time to be capable of moving.

Kiyo's face was tense with concentration. He had closed his eyes and was now relying solely on his other senses. "I can smell her," he said. "She uses scented shampoo."

Enoki smiled and stuck his nose in the air as well. Kiyo was right, he could smell a whiff of flowery shampoo to their left-

Even though he'd known where Sakura was, Kiyo only just managed to dodge her second blow. Then Koeda darted forward from behind Sakura, wooden arm ready to strike. She gave a loud warcry as her fist made contact with Sakura's cheek- only to be disappointed as the jounin disappeared in a wave of flower petals.

"Kawarimi no jutsu," Sakura explained cheerfully. "Never forget your basics. Now, I think I've seen enough. Kai!"

The air around them rippled, and suddenly all feeling returned to Enoki's body. He let out a huge sigh of relief. Next to him, Kiyo laughed giddily and cheerfully wave his own hand in front of his eyes.

The damage to the field disappeared as well, and so did the needle in Sakura's hand. "So it was genjutsu," Enoki said, smiling smugly. Kiyo let go of him and Koeda moved forward to stand next to them again.

"I had to make sure you weren't just spouting empty words, didn't I?" Sakura said. She was once again sitting on the wooden post, and looked like she hadn't moved at all. In all likelihood, she hadn't. Enoki almost scowled. Genjutsu was both incredibly cool and incredibly annoying.

"All in all, the three of you did a good job. Of course we already suspected the two of you would be able to work together," She eyed the two brothers, "But we weren't sure how it would work together with Koeda." Koeda crossed her arms defensively. Enoki noticed they'd both gone back to normal, and couldn't help but be disappointed. Mokuton was so _cool_.

Sakura looked at Enoki. "You could have kept your perceptive conclusions to yourself and your brother, to put the both of you ahead of her, so to speak. Instead you decided to share it with her, allowing her to help the two of you in return. Koeda, you knew that when I attacked them they would only be able to dodge, so rather than leaving them to fend for themselves you attacked me. Well done! That took courage and skill." Sakura smiled encouragingly. Koeda ducked her head in embarrassment, but there was pride in her voice when she thanked Sakura for the compliment.

"Finally, Kiyo. You weren't quite as active as either of your teammates, but once you overcame your initial panic your keen senses allowed you to dodge a potentially lethal attack. Not only that, you also had the physical strength to drag your brother along. Good job, Kiyo. Even without your sight you proved that you could place your trust in your teammates and act accordingly."

Sakura nodded at him, then crossed her arms and went silent for a moment. Her eyes looked the three of them up and down, as if she was assessing them.

"You know what?" She finally said. "You guys pass. The four of us will be team 9 from now on!"

The three children cheered. Or rather, Enoki cheered, Kiyo gave a disarming smile and Koeda tried to conceal a proud smirk.

If they had looked at Sakura at that moment, they would have seen a brief flash of emotion in her eyes. If they had asked, she would have told them it was nostalgia.

"Now, kids, how about we go and get some lunch?" She finally said.

Enoki blinked in surprise. "Wait, lunch? But it's morning, isn't it?"

Sakura opened her mouth to explain, but a loud rumble interrupted her. Koeda clutched her stomach with an embarrassed blush. "No, it's definitely lunch time," She said.

Sakura began to laugh, and it wasn't long before the others joined her.

**AN:**

**Disclaimer: **

**Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto**

**All OCs © Saoirse-inti/Thriaemis**

**I planned to upload this earlier, but an unexpected lack of wi-fi prevented it. On a more positive note, it gave me time to write some stuff for the upcoming chapters in advance! Please let me know what you thought about the test and the characters, and all speculation regarding Koeda's past is welcome…**

**Also, wow, almost 4000 words! **

**There may be mention of pairings among the older characters, but I'm still deciding on which ones to go for. I'll be honest with you: I don't really ship anyone outside of the canon pairings in the Naruto manga. As a result, all pairings will be based on what I find most interesting, or most plausible. Kakashi x Yuugao was chosen both because of plausibility and for the lack of an alternative. Yamato x Shizune was chosen because they'd make interesting children. **

**Most, if not all romance will be implied only. The main characters are only twelve after all! **

**Thank you for reading:D It'd be awesome if you left a review!**

**Translation of Japanese:**

_**Nee-san: **_**Big sister/older sister (used both for actual siblings and older girls someone is well acquainted with.) Similarly **_**Nii-san **_**is used for brothers/older males.**

_**-taichou: **_**Suffix that indicates someone is a captain **

_**Genjutsu: **_**Illusionary technique**

_**Kawarimi no jutsu: **_**Replacement Technique**

_**Mokuton: **_**Wood style**

**Name Meanings:**

_**Enoki: **_**Nettle Tree or a type of mushroom:'D **

_**Kiyoshi: **_**Clear and Bright**

_**Koeda: **_**Twig**


	3. Rei

Chapter 3.

The Hokage's office was uncharacteristically quiet that day. Umino Iruka stood in front of the desk. He looked proud, as he always did when he was in this particular place. The sixth Hokage sat behind the desk, his ridiculously blue eyes scanning the document in his hand.

After a while, he set it down. "Sakura, Ino and Hanabi are this year's new sensei, huh?" He smiled as he looked over the list with the names of their students. "Good, good, they'll be a good batch." His eyes lingered on two particular names.

_Hatake Kiyoshi_

_Hatake Enoki_

He grinned. "I'll have to treat them to ramen someday soon," He said, more to himself than Iruka. Iruka smiled along, already aware who the Hokage was talking about. "You think of them as little brothers, don't you?"

Uzumaki Naruto smiled. "Kinda. That or nephews, I guess, what with my dad practically raising Kakashi-sensei back when he was a kid." He sat back and sighed. "I remember when those two were born. Sheesh, time really does fly when you get old..."

Iruka raised an eyebrow. At the ripe old age of 33, not many people would actually think of Naruto as old. If 33 was old, how old did Naruto think Iruka was with his 41 years of life?

Naruto smiled wistfully. "I wonder what kind of ninja they'll become?" He placed the paper back on the table and swung his legs up. His sandaled feet landed right next to a stack of official documents and Iruka's eyebrow twitched.

"You're in a nostalgic mood," he said. Naruto sighed again. "I suppose so. Just remembering my own time as a genin." A smile appeared on his face. "How'd they do in their first genin exam anyway? The one in class, I mean? Henge and bunshin, all that stuff?"

"I knows which one you mean. Kiyoshi passed with flying colours, of course. He's almost as talented as his sister," Iruka smiled. "Enoki, however… Well, he did succeed in transforming himself into his brother, and then he made a successful clone. But afterwards.." Iruka looked worried. "He was exhausted just from doing those two techniques. I had to make him sit down, or he'd have fainted. Some of the other kids laughed at him.." He shook his head. "I worry about that boy. This might not be the right career path for him. Are you sure you can't convince Kakashi-san that Enoki should do something else?"

Although Iruka regularly taught lower level classes, he spent most of his time with kids from the ages 10 to 12. As such, he had missed Enoki's earlier development, but he'd heard rumours about the boy with the underdeveloped chakra pathways.

Naruto sighed. "Kakashi-sensei was easily convinced, actually. He's a good dad, he cares far more for his son's health than his career.. It was Enoki who we couldn't convince. Kakashi-sensei and Yuugao-san sent him to a civilian school for a while, but he kept sneaking out to be with his brother and go to the academy anyway." Naruto smirked. "His lack of chakra has one big advantage; he was almost impossible to sense."

"Sakura says he might eventually have as much chakra as an average shinobi, if he works hard. But he needs to be supervised, and it would take him much, much longer than anyone else his age. It's not going to be easy for him, but… I'm sure he can make it."

Iruka sighed. "I wish I could share your optimism. Then again… you tend to be right when you put your faith in someone." He smiled.

"Anyway, the new teams will need missions to do. I'd have gone to the mission desk, but I thought this would be better. Do you have anything in mind?"

Naruto nodded and pushed two thin files over to Iruka. "These are for team 12 and team 8. As for team 9.. I have thought of a mission for them. It'll suit them perfectly," There was a glint in his eyes as he spoke. "And it'll be funny for me."

Iruka arched an eyebrow. "Should I alarm the emergency services in case you set the forest on fire again?"

Naruto scowled. "That was only once, and only because it was Sasuke-teme's team. They had it coming."

"And you completely lost control," Iruka retorted, clearly amused.

"Aagh, Iruka-sensei! Get off my case, would ya?" Naruto raised his arms above his head before letting them come down in an annoyed gesture. Iruka smiled as he briefly saw the little boy he had once taught. Naruto had grown into a splendid ninja and an unparalleled Hokage, but that mischievous little kid was still in there, somewhere.

It was a relief, to be honest.

"So what do you have in mind for them?" he asked.

Naruto sighed again and gestured at the stack of paperwork. For a moment, Iruka thought he'd make a bunch of twelve year olds do his paperwork.

"As you can see, I still have a load of paperwork to do.. And Hinata will be going on a training camp of some sort with some of the genin Hyuuga's tomorrow. In other words, we're going to need baby sitters. I hate having to leave them, but I'm sure Sakura and the kids would manage." He smirked. "Plus, maybe Sakura will get the hint and consider having a bunch of kids of her own someday soon. Sasuke-teme has been pining after her for some time now."

"Ever the match-maker," Iruka said drily. "I'm not sure Sakura is interested, you know."

"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't, but if I can manage to set my two best friends up, I'd be happy for the rest of the year." His expression grew serious. "To be honest, Sakura-chan seemed kinda lonely lately. That's why I decided to give her the opportunity to have team of her own."

"She's a grown woman, I'm sure she'll sort it out on her own," Iruka tried to comfort Naruto.

Naruto breathed in deeply and forced a smile. "Yeah! I'm sure of it. Anyway, here's a list of requested missions, including the D-ranks for the new batch of genin. Would ya mind taking it to the mission desk for me?"

Iruka sighed. _Let it go,_ he told himself. "Of course, I will. Anything else, Naruto-sama?"

"Stop calling me –sama," Naruto grinned.

Iruka smiled, and with a wave, left the office.

* * *

The two Hatake brothers went home with a wide smile that day, chatting excitedly about their new promotion. Sakura had explained to them that while it had felt like fifteen minutes at most, they had spent almost an hour in the genjutsu. It had certainly explained their ravenous appetite. After lunch, the four of them had gone their separate ways.

The boys turned a corner and arrived in their own street. Their house was at the end.

"I think this team might turn out better than we expected," Kiyo said. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "If you ignore the fact that Sakura-sensei almost bashed my skull in on our very first day as a team."

"That mokuton is so cool," Enoki sighed dreamily.

"I suppose so. But we might have lightning chakra like dad. That'd be even better,"

"We could learn Raikiri," Enoki sighed. He could already picture it; the two of them charging an enemy with lightning in their hands while Koeda created a forest around them-

"Only if we also steal dad and Sasuke-nii-san's sharingan." Kiyo smiled lopsidedly and bumped his shoulder against Enoki's. "Surely you wouldn't want to do that to them?"

"Awww…" Enoki looked crestfallen. "Way to destroy my dreams."

"Gotta keep you down-to-earth, don't I?" Kiyo sing-songed. "And make sure you don't turn into an eye-stealing psychopath."

Enoki shuddered at the thought. "Thanks… I think?"

"Oh, Kiyoshi-kun and Enoki-kun!" One of their elderly neighbours briefly stopped sweeping her doorstep. "It is good to see you boys! Oh, you both look lovely with those headbands!"

Enoki blushed. "Thank you, Harumi-san,"

Kiyo smiled charmingly. "Not as lovely as you, Harumi-san. Did you get a new haircut?"

"Ah, I did! How perceptive of you! But what are you doing, complimenting an old lady like me?"

Kiyo shook his head. "Any lady, no matter her age, is worthy of compliments."

Harumi-san laughed and waved her hand dismissively. "You'll be a heartbreaker, won't you? Just get going, you two! Your father came by earlier said he had a surprise for you boys."

Kiyo and Enoki looked at each other. Identical grins spread over their faces. "Thanks Harumi-san!"

The two ran home. Harumi-san shook her hand and laughed, then continued her work.

* * *

When the boys got home, they quickly realized their dad was in the garden behind the house. He was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the garden, surrounded by scrolls. Pakkun was sitting next to him, reading along.

Tenmei was there as well. She was sitting on the porch and swinging her legs. Even though she was already fourteen, she was still pretty short for her age. She looked up when she saw them and smiled.

"Heya! I heard the good news," she said.

"I thought you had a mission?" Kiyo said as he and Enoki sat down next to her.

Tenmei looked taken aback for a moment. "Oh, we did. But it wasn't the usual kind of mission. Seiran, Kujira, Konohamaru-sensei and me were doing something special today." She smiled mysteriously. "But I can't tell you anything else."

"Did you get to fight bandits?" Enoki asked excitedly. His sister always got into the best kind of adventures.

Tenmei nodded, a bored look on her face. "Yeah, while we were on our way to.. the mission. They weren't too impressive though. Anyway, how did you guys do?"

"We did great! It was so awesome- hey, wait a minute. How come you already knew we passed?"

Tenmei grinned. "It's a new trick I'm working on. Don't worry about it,"

Enoki felt excitement bubbling up inside of him. A new jutsu! He opened his mouth to ask her about it, but then their father stood up and cleared his throat.

"If you would all pay attention for a minute," He said. "Now, to celebrate your graduation from the academy," He flashed them a genuinely proud smile, "I've decided to teach the two of you a new technique. Your sister already knows this one and has benefitted from it very often."

Tenmei smiled and nodded. "Should I demonstrate?" she asked her father.

"Go ahead."

Tenmei smiled and bit on her thumb. The skin broke and a trickle of blood ran out. Kiyo grimaced. She raced through a series of handseals and then slammed her hand to the ground.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

Enoki's eyes widened. "Ooh, summoning!" He cried out as a white cloud of smoke filled the area around Tenmei's hand. When it cleared, an adolescent dog was left in its place. It was a young husky dog, with a gorgeous black and white coat and piercing blue eyes. It shook its head and looked mildly disgruntled at being summoned.

Tenmei smiled proudly. "Heya, Mamoru." Mamoru snorted and rubbed his head against her head. "Tenmei," He grunted with a surprisingly deep voice. Then the dog turned toward Enoki and Kiyo. "So these are the brats I'm supposed to entrust my little siblings to?"

At this point, Enoki was pretty much jumping with excitement. They were going to learn to summon? Oh! Kiyo laughed. "Don't get ahead of yourself, little brother. For all we know they look like Pakku-,"

"Oi," Pakkun's gruff voice interrupted him. "What was that, Pup?"

"It wouldn't make much sense," Enoki said uncertainly as he studied Mamoru. But then they weren't normal dogs, so who knew what Mamoru's siblings would look like? Enoki studied him for a bit longer, feeling unsure of himself. Then de dog's piercing eyes suddenly glared at him.

"What's wrong with you? Do I have something on my face?" he growled. Enoki squeaked and hid behind Kiyo. Perhaps learning to summon wasn't so much fun after all.

Tenmei sighed and rubbed the back of her head. "It's alright, Mamoru. These are my siblings, after all. They will take good care of your siblings. Right, dad?"

Kakashi smiled and nodded. "But how about I show them how to it first, huh?" He pulled his mask down and bit on his thumb, just as Tenmei had done earlier. He bit down. Enoki winced as Kakashi's teeth broke the skin and blood trickled out.

"How does that even work?" Kiyo muttered. "No way I can get my thumb to bleed by biting on it.."

Enoki frowned. How _did _ it work?

Kakashi opened his mouth as if to answer, then closed it again. He seemed a bit unsettled for a moment, before shaking his head. "Anyway, pay attention to the seals I'm using." He said.

He formed a series of seals, slow enough that the boys would be able to see. Enoki breathed in deeply as he tried to memorize the seals.

"Then, once you've made the right seals, you channel chakra to your hands.. and slam your hand on the nearest surface." Kakashi continued.

Oh no. How could he forget? Enoki swallowed uncertainly.

"But before that, you'll need to sign a contract, of course.." Kakashi continued, unaware of Enoki's discomfort.

"Erm, dad?" Enoki felt very small of a sudden. "I don't.. I don't think I have the chakra for that," he said. Kiyo deftly raced through the seals a couple of times to memorize them. Enoki wanted to join him with all his heart, but he knew his own limits. Doing a _Henge_ followed by a simple clone had made him feel dizzy. Who knew what an attempt at summoning would do to him?

Kakashi's good eye softened. He put one of his large hands on Enoki's head and ruffled the boy's hair. "Don't you worry, I did think of that. I have this for you," He walked back to the stack of scrolls and picked up a small white one. "This is a very special scroll. You'll still need to draw blood and make handseals, but you'll be drawing the chakra from the scroll. I sealed some of my own chakra in there." He tossed the scroll over to Enoki, who caught it just in time. His skin tingled where the scroll touched it, almost as if he could sense the chakra contained in it.

He looked at his father in awe. "That.. that would work?" The implications were _huge_. If he could just borrow chakra for every technique…

Kakashi frowned. "Only for this technique, I'm afraid. The sealed chakra is connected to my contract with the dog pack. It is only through your blood that you are capable of summoning your own dog rather than mine."

"….Ehh?"

Kakashi closed his eyes and sighed. Then he lifted up a finger. "Picture it like this: you need three things to be able to summon. One, a summoning contract, two," He lifted a second finger, "chakra, and three," A third finger went up, "blood. The blood binds you to the contract and the chakra ties you to a specific group of summons. In my case, that's Pakkun and the eight Ninja dogs. For you, that will be someone else"

"So in your case, my chakra will serve as a medium to connect you with the pack and pull a dog from the summoning plane. Get it so far?"

Enoki nodded dutifully. "I guess so."

Kakashi's eyes closed in his trademark smile. "Because I need to use the pack myself every now and then, you won't always be able to summon them. Therefore you will need to control my chakra and make sure you summon your _own_ dog."

"Kiyo and Tenmei will have to use their own chakra, but I'll help you out until you can do it yourself, alright?"

Enoki smiled hesitantly. He'd rather do it on his own, but.. "I guess that's as good as it gets. Thanks, dad."

Kakashi smiled and nodded. "Now. How about the two of you try it? Use a kunai to draw blood if you must," he added as he looked at Kiyo.

Kiyo smiled awkwardly. "I guess that would work," he said. Then he took a kunai from his weapon pouch and cut his thumb on it. Kakashi stepped forward, hands held up in front of him. "Ahh, Kiyo-"

Kiyo's face did not betray any pain. Then he made the seals Kakashi had shown them, and struck his hand to the ground. Nothing happened.

"You didn't sign the contract," Tenmei deadpanned.

Kiyo froze, one hand still on the ground.

Enoki put both hands in front of his mouth to keep his laughter from spilling out. "Good one, Kiyo," He managed to say, before bursting out in laughter.

Kakashi scratched at his cheek. "Well then. That's awkward. If you'd both just come over here and sign the contract?"

Enoki wiped tears of mirth away from his eyes and stepped over to the stack of scrolls. A red-faced Kiyo did the same, but he refused to meet Enoki's eyes.

The scroll looked positively ancient. It was quite large, made of beautiful parchment, covered in perfect calligraphy- and it stank. A lot. All four Hatake's scrunched up their noses when Kakashi had unrolled the scroll. "I didn't remember that," Kakashi muttered.

The newest name on the scroll was _Hatake Tenmei_.

Kakashi unfurled the scroll a bit further. His own name was on it, written with the hand of a child, and before that _Hatake Sakumo_. Kakashi's hand briefly lingered on it, then pushed the scroll further, revealing _Hatake Karasu _and _Inuzuka Shirohime,_ who seemed to be the scroll's first user. If Enoki remembered correctly, those were his great grandfather and great great grandmother. Sheesh, that scroll was _old._

"Now, once you've signed the contract you will be able to summon one ninja hound. They're still young, so you will have to train them. This dog will be the leader of your pack." He pointed at Pakkun. "That guy over there was my first dog. I got him when I was five!" Kakashi smiled.

Pakkun grunted. "Back when you were cute and little," He grumbled.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Pakkun!" Kakashi chirped. The kids snickered.

"To sign the contract, you will need blood again. Kiyo, you go first. That way you haven't cut yourself for nothing," Kakashi said cheerfully. Kiyo flushed, but kept his head high as he sat down in front of the scroll. His hand hovered over the scroll uncertainly for a moment, before he quickly wrote down his name.

The blood glowed for a brief moment, and then turned black. Kakashi briefly inspected it, then nodded in satisfaction. "Enoki? Your turn."

Enoki gulped and joined his brother. He cut his thumb open and wrote his name in shaky letters next to his brother's. He'd expected to feel something.. _magical, _but as it turned out, it was no different from writing his name on a written test. His disappointment didn't last long, as the thought of having his own ninja hound was far too exciting.

His name glowed briefly, then turned black as ink. Enoki smiled shakily. That was step one!

Kakashi took hold of the scroll and rolled it back up. Moments later, it disappeared in a cloud of white smoke. They all breathed a sigh of relief as the terrible smell disappeared with it.

"Now, are you ready to summon them?" Kakashi said.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Enoki muttered. "So… how would it work with the scroll? Just slam my hand on it?"

Kakashi nodded.

Enoki took a deep breath and placed the scroll on the ground. There was an intricate seal inside, stark black ink providing a strong contrast to the white paper. He checked to see if his thumb was still bleeding, and proceeded to slowly form the necessary seals.

Next to him, Kiyo did the same, but slightly faster. Enoki watched from the corner of his eye as his brother's hand slapped against the ground. There was a puff of smoke, and.. a dog collar appeared.

Well then. Enoki bit his lip and slapped his hand onto the paper. As soon as he did, a strange pulling sensation ran through his arm. "Whoah!"

A much larger cloud of smoke appeared. It slowly dissipated and revealed.. Bull, Kakashi's giant mastiff summon. Enoki levelled the dog with an incredulous look. "You weren't supposed to appear," he said.

Bull looked slightly guilty, and turned his head to look at his owner. Kakashi sighed. "Bull, you're dismissed.." The dog disappeared before he had even finished his sentence. "Try inserting a little bit of your own chakra this time, Enoki. I guess the scroll only serves as support," Kakashi added.

Enoki nodded, and went back to work.

* * *

It took them at least two hours, a whole stack of dog collars and enough dog food to feed a family of five for two weeks to finally successfully summon a dog.

Through some miracle, Enoki was the first who managed. He'd been lightheaded and ready to give up when the puff of smoke disappeared to reveal a young husky puppy. She was smaller and slighter than Mamoru, and where he was black she was a soft, creamy blond, but she was undoubtedly his sister.

Enoki gaped at her in disbelief for a few seconds. Then she turned toward him, clear brown eyes meeting his. "Oh, hello. Are you Enoki?" she said. Her voice was melodic and somewhat deep for such a tiny dog, but it was also very friendly. Enoki's mouth snapped close again. "Err, yeah, I am. Who.. who are you?"

The puppy sat up and trotted over to him. He instinctively offered her his hand to sniff. She nodded in thanks and sniffed carefully. "I like your smell," she said. "Very soft and sweet, but alpha enough."

Enoki felt a bit miffed. Soft and sweet weren't exactly words he'd associate with a shinobi. But being called alpha was positive, right?

"My name is Rei," She continued, before he could say anything. "And if you want, I'll be your ninja hound."

Enoki smiled shakily. "I'd like that very much," He replied. She nodded, clearly satisfied, and rubbed her head against his palm. He opened his hand and scratched behind her ear, his smile slowly widening.

They both looked up when Kiyo suddenly cheered uncharacteristically loud. The dog sitting in front of him was slightly larger than Rei, and built powerfully for a pup his age. Where Mamoru was black and Rei blond, he was a nice auburn colour. "Hello Kiyoshi-kun!" The dog chirped. "I'm Ryouma! Can we go play?"

Kiyo laughed and reached out to pet Ryouma's head. Ryouma wagged his tail happily. "Is that a yes, boss? Is it, is it?" Ryouma jumped up against his brand new summoner in his enthusiasm, making Kiyo laugh even harder. "Down boy-ahaha, that tickles!"

"Ah, Ryouma and Mamoru-nii-sama are here as well," Rei said, sitting back on her haunches. Enoki carefully reached out to pet the soft looking hair in the nape of her neck. She leaned into his touch, and he felt a wave of affection for the dog rush over him.

"So… dad said I'd have to train you. Do you know how to fight?" He asked carefully. Rei looked over her shoulder. "I know how to wrestle and track, but you'll have to teach me the rest, I think." She looked him over. "Do you know how to fight?" She asked in return.

Enoki blushed. "A bit. I have some stamina issues, I'm afraid." He smiled shyly.

"Yes, I noticed when you summoned me. But there is something about your chakra…" She went quiet for a bit, then shook her head. "We'll see. I'm sure it won't be too much of a problem.

That was the first time someone had said that to him. He looked at her in reverence, almost forgetting that he had only just met her. Finally, he smiled. "Thank you, Rei."

"No problem, Enoki-kun. We will manage together."

In another part of the garden, Ryouma and Kiyo chased each other, laughing all the while. Boy and dog sat next to each other, watching quietly.

Enoki couldn't help but think this summoning thing was going to be really, really great in the future.

**AN: There you go! Thanks to all the reviewers, it's a great motivation to receive such encouraging words!**

**I swear there will be a plot eventually:'D **

**I drew team 9, you can find a link on my profile!**

**Translation of Japanese:**

**Kuchiyose: Summoning**

**Henge: Transformation technique**

**Bunshin: Clone**

**Names:**

**Rei: Depending on the kanji, it can mean both Ghost and Bell, both of which are fitting.**

**Ryouma: Dragon**

**Mamoru: Protect**

**Kujira: Whale. Can you guess whose child he is?**

**Seiran: Fresh mountain air.**


End file.
